Cycling the Bay Area & Stories from the Garden

Oh, leaving so soon September?

Well, I must say that it was a pleasure to have you stop by!!

Am I the only one who feels as if September went by extraordinarily quickly? Oh well, she was a darn good month all things considered; with amazingly nice weather for the gateway to winter month and the fact that I was finally able to complete the dreaded re-potting/re-soiling of most of my patio plants; however, the highlight of September 2012; was for me, the celebration of being able to share the preceding 6-months with my first cat; Ms. Gretchen!

Ms. Gretchen!!

Ms. Gretchen has had a roller-coaster of a life over her 8-years of wandering the big blue marble. Born feral on the rather unfriendly streets of East Oakland, CA, she spent the first year of her life living in an abandoned lot that the neighbors used to raise chickens. After being rescued by the good folks at Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary when a staff member learned that the lot was to be built upon, Gretchen was adopted by a woman who runs a cat sitting business in Berkeley.

One cat soon became four cats – with the addition of three young males to the family. The relationship was fine for a while; however, the tranquility was smashed when the males decided that she would be the target of their aggression and she endured repeated attack and spent much of the last two-years in hiding. Unable to find a home for the now 8-year old Gretchen, the sad reality of euthanasia became a frightening reality. With so many companion animals in shelters that never get adopted, the chances of a fearful and super shy cat such as Gretchen being considered adoptable by shelter staff was an unrealistic expectation. Sadly, the end result of the rampant over breeding and thoughtless casting off of dogs, cats, and other companion animals in America when they become inconvenient is that cats like Ms. Gretchen get euthanized. There is simply not the physical space for cats that cannot be adopted due to aggressive or overly fearful behavior.

A lazy Saturday in the Sun

Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary again stepped in as Gretchen’s guardian angel and listed her on their re-homing page. A chance cross-posting of the ad by one of my friends to her Facebook page resulted in Gretchen and I meeting (well, not really meeting, but seeing each other). I agreed to provide her the home she needed and for the first two-months, Gretchen hid under the bed until I went to work or until I fell asleep before she would venture out to eat, drink, or visit the litter box. Thankfully, with a little patience and understanding that I was working on her schedule, those days are now in the past. Today, as soon as I get home, she comes out, meows, I meow back, and she comes over for her showering of love session, then she eats her dinner, we play a bit, and she spends the rest of the night on the back of couch right behind my head (she is there right now as I type this – meowing every now again to ensure that I am still here – don’t worry Gretchy, I’m not going anywhere).

I was fortunate to find her, it is hard to express how much you learn about yourself when you have a frightened, shy cat to care for.

Happy Six-Month Anniversary Gretchy-Cat!!

——— ♥———

And now, for something completely different…

Let’s take a trip out to the garden, shall we? First, let’s make a quick pit-stop to visit the orchids!!

I think the orchids are getting ready to say hello!

The orchids appear to be going into super growth mode, with new foliage and roots appearing and growing bigger everyday! I cannot wait to see what their flowers look like. I have three varieties and being a complete orchid neophyte, I can’t even begin to guess at what species they are. The orchid that bloomed last year (which actually opened right around this time last year) is a Paphiopedilum orchid (see her in bloom!) which I had to wait until the flower opened to identify! That is okay though, I love the process of learning by research and the identification of a plant species as vast and diverse as the orchid was definitely a learning opportunity!

Ms. Orchid enjoying the late afternoon sun

The orchids new foliage continues reaching outward

Outside, a few snapdragon are blooming alongside the ever resilient primrose and voila, the coleus v. kong mix is rebounding amazingly after its near soil level pruning, and it appears that Mr. Squirrel’s rooting-up and partially eating most of last season’s Yukon Gold potatoes is causing volunteer plants to spring up in various containers around the patio!

I can imagine Mr. Squirrel digging up a ‘tater, eating a bit of it, dropping the uneaten portion where ever it was that he was enjoying his tasty morsel (apparently the relative safety of my patio’s various containers), and then returning a few more times to sample another spud from his recently unearthed treasure trove of tasty comestibles. The reality of the situation may not have gone down exactly (or even remotely) like that; however, that is the story that I am running with!

Volunteer ‘tater plants! Thanks Mr. Squirrel!

White Primrose

Snapdragon

Coleus v. kong mix

That is about everything new from my little patch of green in the concrete jungle! As usual, I leave you with my parting shot: